Managers
White Oak Equity Partners (White Oak), a private equity investor focused on acquiring minority GP interests in hedge funds, has acquired stake in ROW Asset Management (ROW), a systematic quantitative global macro investment firm.
Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
The transaction and new partnership provides ROW, which has over USD800 million in assets under management, with additional financial flexibility to be more opportunistic as it seeks to grow its capabilities and assets. ROW will continue to be led by Ryan O’ Grady (pictured), co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, and Jeffrey Weiser, co-founder and President, who will
Alternative asset manager P Schoenfeld Asset Management (PSAM) has purchased a minority stake in CdR Capital, a UK and Geneva headquartered private investment office.
The stake allows PSAM, which employs a research based fundamental investment approach that spans many business cycles, to capitalise on CdR Capital’s asset allocation expertise as well as the skills of its quantitative investment teams.
With this transaction, the event-driven specialist will be more responsive to the needs of its global clients. As part of the agreement, PSAM and CdR Capital will be collaborating on joint ventures and building out bespoke client solutions.
“We
The Guernsey funds sector enjoyed its largest growth in four years during the first quarter of 2017.
The latest figures from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission show that the net asset value of funds under management and administration in the island grew by GBP10.6 billion (4.1 per cent) over the quarter – the highest margin of growth since the first quarter of 2013, when funds grew by GBP19.7 billion. From the end of March 2016, total net asset values increased by GBP28.6 billion (12 per cent).
The statistics also build on six straight previous quarters of growth to take the
The first half of the year has seen a sharp divergence in returns between Event Driven and Global Macro strategies. These dynamics were also at play last week and so far this month, with Event-Driven extending gains and Macro funds underperforming. Interestingly, the the very same configuration occurred as of end-June 2016.
That’s according to the latest Weekly Brief from Lyxor’s Cross Asset Research Team which points out that Global Macro funds were impacted negatively last week by the sharp fall in oil prices and the fall in US and UK Treasury yields. They have maintained long positions on energy
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has confirmed its non-objection for Euronext to grant direct trading access to US participants on the CAC 40 Dividend Index Futures and the AEX Dividend Index Futures.
Effective 13 June 2017, Euronext participants and investors domiciled in the US now have direct trading access to Dividend Futures on these two blue-chip European indices.
After achieving 100 per cent growth in volumes traded in 2016[2], the CAC 40 Dividend Index Future continues to reach new trading milestones in 2017. From January to May 2017, the number of contracts traded was up by nearly
A number of technology-focused hedge funds are generating strong returns so far this year, with technology being the biggest standout of Wall Street this 2017 and generating at nearly 50 per cent of the market’s overall rise.
According to alternative investment manager Gondor Capital Management, hedge funds tracked by Morgan Stanley showed that as of end of April, nearly 29 per cent of the sector’s exposure in North America was in information technology stocks. Gondor believes that this leads to concerns that the hedge fund space is already crowding the technology sector.
“I believe that hedge funds are already
Managed futures traders gained 0.06 per cent in May according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year to date, the Index has lost 0.67 per cent.
Four of Barclay’s CTA indices had gains in May, and four had losses. The Financial/Metals Traders Index was up 0.88 per cent, Systematic Traders gained 0.13 per cent, and Agricultural Traders added 0.06 per cent.
“The seventh month of consecutive gains by global equities coupled with a bond market rally were the main drivers of CTA returns in May,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge.
The Currency
Hedge funds gained 0.50 per cent in May according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index is up 4.13 per cent in 2017.
The Barclay Hedge Fund Index has now been profitable for seven months in a row, with a cumulative gain of 6.10 per cent. The Barclay Technology Index has gained 12.27 per cent in the first five months of 2017, its strongest start in 18 years.
“Concerns based on weak retail sales, two consecutive monthly declines in consumer confidence, and uncertainty over Trump’s ability to deliver on infrastructure spending and tax cut plans drove
For the first time in several years, investors have begun expressing an interest in opportunities in Asia, according to Agecroft Partners.
The firm says that investors have shared increasing concerns about the high valuations of both the US equity and fixed income markets (pushed further by the Trump rally in the US equity markets). In addition, as many US and European based managers’ performance has lagged, investors have looked to diversify their portfolios and enhance returns. Evidence of asset flows into a strategy or region usually takes about 9 to 12 months to materialise due to the lengthy due diligence period
Hedge funds returned an average of 0.21 per cent in May 2017, and aggregate returns are +3.20 per cent YTD in 2017, according to eVestment’s Hedge Fund Industry Asset Flow Report for May 2017.
May performance was led by funds focused on corporate capital structures, while commodity and currency funds continue to be the primary drag on industry performance.
Asset flows for the month stood at USD10.52 billion for the month, bringing YTD flows to USD23.32 billion. Total industry AUM sits at USD3.130 trillion, with multi-strategy, directional credit and macro funds seeing strong investor interest.
Convertible arbitrage strategies
